Pixiq

SELLING FINE ART PRINTS ON A WEBSITE

- KNOW YOUR PLACE in this world.

I put this as the first rule because there is nothing else as important.  If you don't know what your photographic niche is going to be, from the very beginning, you are in serious trouble.

Now, I'm not talkilng about commercial photography.  I'm not talking about wedding photography, or table-top photography.  I'm talking about fine-art photography.  I'm talking about being an artist.  Going to photograph things that interest you without having a built-in client.  The fine-art photographer, at least for most of their lives, are in a struggle to find clients to buy their work.  If they're very good, they will have a tremendous clientele after they depart this world for good.

But I digress.  If you are selling your photography through the web, you really need a niche, and not only that but one with a ready-made clientele.  For example, can you tell from my site BeckermanPhoto.com what my niche is?

That's a trick question.  It really falls into two niches that overlap. Drum roll:

Black and White Photography

New York Photography

Those are the two niches.  That is the audience I'm trying to reach.  Maybe some people are just looking for any sort of Black and White Photography and the fact that most of my work is in New York doesn't matter.

Maybe the person wants shots of New York, and the fact that they're in black and white doesn't matter.

And then there's the jackpot: a black and white shot of New York City.

I can't tell you what your niche, or niches are, or should be.  But if they are too wide, example: "photography" then you are barking up the wrong tree (unless you are already famous) in which case your name is your niche.

An example of a great niche is FAMOUS PEOPLE.  Famous people fall under the same category has FAMOUS PLACES, FAMOUS LANDMARKS, FAMOUS STUFF.  Famous means that your audience already has an emotional connection to the subject.

In other words, if Bob Dylan were an unknown singer, a picture of him, no matter how interesting, would not sell.  I think you can see where I'm going with this.  It's not enough to have a niche, but you need a niche that already has a fan base.

The other reason that understanding your niche is important from the beginning is because it will determine how your site is put together in terms of SEO (search engine optimizing) and products.

- It’s harder than it looks.

My  photography site (www.BeckermanPhoto.com) went up in December 1999.

During my first year of selling photographs (or should I say, trying to sell photographs) on the web, I sold exactly one print. And that was paid for by check. And that check bounced.  Luckily, I still had my day job as a programmer.

 

- IF IT ISN'T A STORE, IT MAY BE A PORTFOLIO

My photo web site, back then, was really sort of a portfolio. Friends would use it to look at my prints. I would then visit them with the actual prints that they had seen on the web.  They could see how they'd look in the actual space. That was my interior designer stage.

 

- THE NITTY GRITTY, PRICE-POINT, 20/80 RULE ETC.

People were coming to the site and looking around but still not buying. I might have a thousand visitors.  They would look at every picture.  But they wouldn't buy anything, and they'd only come back to read the blog.  Yes, I had started the blog back in 1999 so that people would have a reason to return to the site.  And that was working.

Traffic continued to increase. Not to look at pictures, but to read the blog.  Eeks.  Eeks!

So what could I do to make some sales?  I knew I had something that people wanted, but they seemed to be afraid to buy.  Through trial and a lots of errors - here's what helped make the sale:

- Don't ask the customer to do anything extra.  The less clicks between the product and the buy button the better.  Even one extra little click can kill the sale.

- The well-known 20 / 80 Percent Rule holds in this business.  Stamp this somewhere on your forehead: 20% of your photographs will be responsible for 80% of your revenue.  That is incredible - but true.  So you need to identify the most-sellable images, and you need to make sure that those images are absolutely impossible to miss.

The price point is simply what you sell your product for.  But it is the craziest psychological mechanism that I've run across. 

Take an unmatted 8 x 10 inch print called, HELLO SIR.  You figure that $40 is a fair price. You base this on the cost of paper, ink, your time, and whatever else you can think of.

But it's just impossible for an artist to measure the worth of an art object by adding up the cost of paint and canvas, or film and time. 

That seems obvious, since if a famous person signs their name to a doodle on a napkin it may be worth thousands but only have cost five cents to produce.

But you're not famous. So how is the customer supposed to know what your work is worth?  One way is the price. 

If you charge too little, they may think that you're work isn't good.  If you charge too much, they may think it is good, but that they can't afford it.

Selling art on the web is so tricky, because you don't have all the bells and whistles that go along with a physical gallery.  You don't have a bunch of people walking around, making pleasing sounds when they see something they like.  And of course you can't loosen them up with liquor. 

So one thing you'll have to do is find that "magic" point that says, this is a worthwhile object - and at the same time it is still within the budget of the potential consumer.  What other clues can you give them as to it's worth?

One thing is to offer a wide variety of sizes for prints - with the largest prints selling at a substantial, but reasonable price.  This gives the feeling that there must be people out there who will pay a substantial amount for one of your prints.

On the other hand, if the 8 x 10 print of HELLO SIR sells for $40, then there's no room to sell it for less, and this makes the person feel like they're buying the cheapest print you offer.

Here's one possible way to approach the HELLO SIR PRINT:

5X7 UNMATTED $40

8X10 UNMATTED $75

11X14 UNMATTED $125

16X 20 UNMATTED $200

20X24 UNMATTED $275

24X30 UNMATTED $350

And higher for matted prints.

Many of your customers are buying prints for gifts.  This spectrum of prices allows them to buy a size that won't make them feel print, especially if the person that gets the gift goes back to the site.

At the same time, there's room for the student, and for the person who can afford the higher prices.

Pricing has to be part of a soup to nuts scheme and you will find yourself testing various prices over and over until you get close to what works.

Besides, the overall pricing scheme, there are other incentives: FREE SHIPPING.  Or at least very cheap shipping.  You don't want the visitor to get socked with any surprises during checkout.  As mentioned, they have twitchy fingers, and it doesn't take much for them to blow away in the wind.

- Micro Pricing. One more bit about pricing is that you may find that you sell many more prints at $39.99 than at $40.00 

This has always seemed crazy to me, but it must work since just about every major firm I've every looked at does it.

I have never met anyone selling fine-art and making a go of it that didn't have their own site under their own domain.  I'm not going to name all the sites that will host your photo site and give you the idea that you'll be able to sell your photos through them.  Maybe they help send it off to the printer.  Maybe they just send the order to you for fulfillment.  But unless you can get in and deal with your code however you want, it is going to be difficult to design your site for search engines.

- WHAT SELLS WITHIN YOUR NICHE

Here, I can only talk about my own customers.  Once in a while I run into a fine-art collector, but most of my customers are looking for photography to hang in their living room or to give as a gift for a meaningful occasion.

I mentioned at the start of this over-long article, that FAMOUS subjects are important because they have a built in emotional resonance.  The same is true for my work.  I might have a shot of a person doing an amazing thing.  I could take a print by a famous artist, perhaps Cartier-Bresson - but if the viewer doesn't know it's by a famous photographer, and the picture is of an unknown person, it will be nearly impossible to sell.  However, take that same subject, and put the skyline of New York in the background, or in a reflection - and you have a sellable picture, especially if the person in the picture is seen in silhouette, or from behind.  It is one of the oddest things, and to me very surprising, but we only want to buy pictures of people because they are famous, or if we know them, as in family members.  The stranger - the unknown figure in a street photography shot - unless they are known, or the photographer is known - is going to be a tough sale.

The same goes for buildings.  The most beautiful building in New York is going to be tough to sell unless it is an iconic symbol of New York.

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT

I don’t care what they put you through – by the time you have actually gotten a paying web customer you just need to do everything in your power to keep them. Take their returns gladly. If a print is damaged – send them a free print. Whatever it takes. Word will get around that you are a trustworthy web seller.

I once had a customer who was very irate about something – can’t even remember what anymore. I got a very nasty letter from him. And I took a deep breath, and told him he was completely right – and that he could have any picture he wanted as a replacement. His tone changed immediately, and a year later he was back for another picture.

YOUR BEST ADVERTISING IS THE PRINT ITSELF

When you do make a sale. Put everything you have into producing the best possible print you can. I can’t tell you how many times someone e-mails to say they saw such and such a print on someone’s wall and they want one as well. Every print you send is your advertisement.

What you really want is for people to return for more. I have many customers that I don’t hear from for a year – and then like clockwork – an order comes in for the holidays. Year after year, usually around the holidays but not always.

WEB IMAGE SIZE

This is another important variable. The photographers that visit your site may like to see nice big 1200 pixel-wide images – but don't do it.  If you want to have users click on a smaller image and go through a slideshow - fine.  But you want to save space on the page that holds your image for descriptions, words, and things that search engines understand. 

If you can write about the photograph great. I don’t mean what lens you used – but something that helps the viewer have a connection with the photograph.  Writing skills for the photographer - very important.  After all, you are really giving your viewer a catalog of fine art prints to flip through.  And anything that can hold their interest - well that's a big part of it.  Picture a salesperson who approached you with the object they wanted to sell and couldn't speak.  It's going to be tough.

ENOUGH TO LOOK AT

Don’t start selling photography on the web until you have at least 75 good images. Even if many of the images aren’t sellable – and you know that – if they show the quality and seriousness of your work – they give presence to your more sellable prints.  Check your ego at the door.  Just because you are in love with a particular image doesn’t mean it should be in your store.  Save it for your blog if it isn’t going to sell.

Unless you are an established artist with a name, and can afford to hire a full-time web designer, you are going to be  the web-designer, the marketer, the mat cutter, the packager, the customer service department, the accountant, the tech support guy – and every once in a while the photographer.  I took many more photographs when this was a hobby – then I do now when this is a full-time business.

On the other hand – there are great satisfactions to be had. One thing is that you can show much more of your work than if you were in a physical gallery. In the few gallery shows that I did – the most I could present at one time might have been 15 prints. And things happen on the web that surprise you. Almost every year – something came along: books covers, design firms that want my photography in hotels, and corporate offices; and more stuff that you can imagine. 

Can you live without security?  Can you live on a financial roller coaster?  Can you be almost out of resources when you get a deal to supply prints for all the rooms in one of the largest hotels in New York?

If you can sacrifice financial security for artistic freedom - and if you can get your left- and right-brain working together, and - (this seems appropriate to mention at the very end) and you have real talent - then go for it.  There's nothing like being able to say: at least I tried; and even better, I was able to survive based on my artistic ability.  Nothing like that feeling.